ACTIONVERSE #1 FEATURING: STRAY (Action Lab) – The Actionverse event from last year gave us the first truly unified lineup of a HUGE number of individually creator-owned characters. Each one is a favorite – and I’m SO glad to see the return of STRAY! This series takes a step back in time, giving us a “Tween Titans” made up of Rottweiler and some other soon-to-be-great tween heroes…and we see how it all came together here! Vito Delsante brings this group to life with a great first chapter, with wonderful artwork with present-day sequences by Zean Izaakse (colors by Chris O’Halloran) and the main story by Lee Gaston (colors by Wilson Ramos, Jr.). 8/10

ELSEWHERE #2 (Image) – Jay Faerber continues this great “what-if” story that takes Amelia Earhart, D.B. Cooper and more and throws them into a strange world where time seems to have no relative meaning, at least to our world as we know it. It’s high adventure throughout, wonderfully written by Faerber and illustrated brilliantly by Sumeyye Kesgin (with colors by Ron Riley). 8/10

That’s it for the Great 8’s – also check out our THE 10 SPOT and PRESSED TO THE 9’s lists for more of the best in indie comics today!